a very good monday morning to you. here's what's coming up on "early today." shocking news from the country music world. 37-year-old singer mindy mccreedy who's been plagued by personal troubles through the years has been found dead of an apparent suicide. republicans lashed out at the obama administration in a leaked draft of the president's immigration reform proposal. danica patrick makes history daytona. a new hope for han solo. and the nation's greatest president immortalized in chedd cheddar. chedd cheddar. "early today" starts right now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television very good morning to you. it's nice to see you. i'm veronica de la cruz cruz. the world of country music has

lost a memorable voice. mindy mccreedy dolphin of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. she sold more than three million of albums but was plagued by alcohol abuse and stints in rehab. >> reporter: mindy mccreedy started her rise in car domestic in 1996 with her debut album "10,000 angels" which would go on to earn multi-platinum status. in the years that followed she would release 12 albums, charting 12 songs on the country billboard singles chart. from the first rapid climb to fame it would be more her private life that kept her name in the headlines. she had multiple run-ins with the law through much of the 2000s including charge of driving under the influence, using fake prescriptions, battery, and vool aiolating probation. following the death of her music

producer david wilson in january, mccreedy was involuntarily admitted to an inpatient treatment facility. a day later the troubled celebrity was released to outpatient treatment. in the last interviewer with nbc's andrea canning, the singer spoke of how wilson's death had affected her. >> he was my life. we were each other's life. >> reporter: mindy mccreedy was 37 years old. she leaves behind two young children. nbc news. we are learning more details about the shocking murder case against olympic hero oscar pistorius. police in south africa have charged the track star with the premeditated murder of her girlfriend reeva steenkamp inside his home on valentine's day. an agent for pistorius' camp canceled all future track races raising the possibility that the double amputee who ran to history in the summer games never will race competitively again. as the jail blade runner receives visits from his family, his agent says big-name sponsors

like nike and oakley are also sticking by his side. the gop is lashing out against a white house immigration plan leaked over the weekend. senator marco rubio called it "half baked and siresly flawed." the white house says it's a backup plan in case efforts are stumbled. >> reporter: immigration is one of the issues that sparks democrats and republicans. while eight senators are finishing a bipartisan bill, "usa today" reveals the white house has been working on a backup plan if the current efforts fall apart. >> if those do not work out, then we'll have an option this will be ready to put out there. >> reporter: president obama's chief of staff says the white house proposal would bolster border security and include a path to citizenship for this nation's 11 million undocumented immigrant. republicans say any plan with the president's name on it is bound to fail. >> of course it will. and that's why we are working

together, republicans and democrats. by the way, he's had no communications with republicans on the issue, unlike the previous four presidents that i've dealt with. >> reporter: senator john mccain is one of the so-called gang of eight lawmakers working on the bipartisan bill. so is florida republican marco rubio who says the president's plan won't work. other members of the gop are not happy to see the white house weighing in. >> when they come out and adamantly say my way or the highway and it congress doesn't ask i'll put it on the desk and say "pass it now," that's no way to get it done. >> reporter: the white house is ready to press ahead with immigration reform if congress can't or won't act. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. president obama's nominee to run the pentagon will have to wait at least another week for an up or down vote in the senate. it now appears chuck hagel will get the vote when senators return. two top republicans say they will stop efforts to stall his confirmation. that filibuster came a day after hagel was approved by the armed

services by a party-line vote. one of his most vocal opponents says while he doesn't believe hague sell qualified, he won't hold up the process. >> i thought we had an agreement to wait a week so the remaining questions would be answered, but i understand the white house wanted a vote. they got a vote. we will have a vote when we get back. i'm confident that senator hagel will probably have the votes necessary to be confirmed as the secretary of defense. >> the gop it says blocked hagel's nomination in an effort to further examine his record and views on israel and iran. senate majority leader harry reid hopes to bring a final vote to the floor when congress goes back in session next monday. so residents in coastal new england are cleaning up after yet another blast of winter weather following the big blizzard last weekend. parts of the northeast including massachusetts got up to six inches of snow on sunday. the winter snowstorm then headed north into maine, carrying with it strong, gusty winds and low visibility. with that we bring in nbc

meteorologist bill karins with more on the storm plus the national forecast. i am sure you have. >> i'm done -- >> you've been working round the clock. >> some didn't see snow, but some did in north carolina and south carolina. myrtle beach even saw snow. it was the winds that were biting, so cold out there. let me show you the storm. this was just as huge and powerful as the storm the weekend before. this of just a little farther off the coast. that's why we spared areas from new york city, d.c., philly, up there, even most of connecticut didn't see heavy snow. this was primarily just extreme eastern new england. this was a huge storm. this storm was a storm with some hurricanes, maybe stronger than some hurricanes. that's why it was windy through the northeast. still windy this morning. just gusted to 46 miles per hour. we're finally seeing the winds dying down around new york city, philly, hartford.

gusty from providence northward. the winds will die down, but be thankful with the holiday kids aren't at the bus stop. windchills in the negative numbers through new england. minus five in august a. minus eight in albany. single digits from new york to philly to baltimore. you get the jist of it. not a pretty morning in new england. it was a miserable sunday. as far as the midwest goes, the next storm, this is an active pattern. we've got the next storm coming. there's another in the gulf of alaska that will be a more powerful storm swinging through the west into the middle of the country thursday. we'll see storm after storm. it's going to be kind of a treacherous week for travel, especially if his to pinpoint one spot. the central plains will see heavy rain, maybe heavy snow with the second storm coming. today, watch out, rain and warmer temperatures arriving in chicago, st. louis, little rock. that's a look at the national forecast. here's a look at the weather outside your window. the good news about today is we don't have too much wintry precipitation. we have snow in new york portions of minnesota and

wisconsin, that's kind of the travel trouble spot. a much bigger storm later this week. nice recovery for areas like raleigh, north carolina, saw snow on saturday. today, 52 and sunny. a lot of the east heading the right direction. >> good news for the kiddies, out with the sleds having a good time. >> they were. today will be a lot better in new england than yesterday. >> good news. thanks. another n the wake of another chicago shooting tragedy, thousands march on capitol hill. and being the leader of the free world does have its perks. find out which of the former presidents were wealthiest. we're back in two minutes.

good morning and welcome back. here are stories making news this morning. the national mall was the site of a massive protest sunday against the controversial keystone exxon pipeline. organizers at the climate event estimate 35,000 people turned out in washington.

the demonstrators called on president obama to keep a pledge and act on climate change. at least three dozen people were killed sunday during a wave of bombings in iraq. six car bombs and three roadside explosions targeted mainly shiite neighborhoods of baghdad. two men are being questioned in the shooting death of a chicago area teen. 18-year-old jenae macfarland was killed in chicago on the same day her sister attended president obama's speech on gun violence. and memorabilia from the kennedy presidency was up for auction over the weekend outside boston. the president's air force one bomber jacket went for a cool $570,000. other items on the block included letters from former first lady jackie kennedy as well as photographs and some books. u.s. markets are closed for the president's day holiday. when traders get back to work this week, the housing recovery will be a big focus. fresh homebuilder centsment comes out tomorrow, housing starts wednesday, existing home sales thursday. investors will also be on the hunt for some clarity from the fed. the release of its last meeting

minutes. the question is whether there's been any more talk of ending its easy money policy. also on deck, walmart's earnings report. speculation is swirling after bloomberg quoted an internal e-mail saying walmart's february sales were "total disaster." gold will also be on the radar this week. the recent market darling has tumbled to a six-month low, shedding 4% already this year. prices at the pump have been on the rise each of the past 29 days, rising seven cents this week to a average in of $3.64 a gallon, 12 cents more than last year. a strike by a major spanish airline could ground more than 1,000 flights this week. workers at iberia began a five-day strike at midnight over plans to cut more than 3,800 jobs and salaries. bmw is recalling almost 575,000 cars in the u.s. and canada because a battery connector can fail. after a backlearn from customers, maker's mart is

restoring its alcohol volume in whiskey to 45%. this after last week's announcement that it would be forced to dilute to 42%. and on this president's day, which of our nation's leaders was the wealthiest? take a wild guess. 24/7 wall street crunched the numbers. bill clinton made it into the top ten thanks to all of his speaking engagements and book deals. believe it or not, george washington was the richest president beating out thomas jefferson and teddy roosevelt by several hundred million dollars. coming up, a half-court shot worth much more than three points. and four adorable lion cubs make their debut at a seattle zoo. what would you do if a stranger slapped your baby during a flight? it happened. now an idaho man faces charges, next.

take a look at this. this is a shot of the empire state building here in new york city last night bathed in red, white, and blue in honor of our commanders in chief past and present on this president's day. okay, now some stories that caught our eye this morning. in north carolina, a 40,000-gallon ethanol tank burst into flames. officials believe the fire erupted from an explosion sparked by lightning. the blast rattled homes about two miles away and forced over 70 firefighters to battle 2 to 3-foot flames before the fire

was extinguished. in minneapolis a baby is recovering from a horrific attack. the 19-month-old was allegedly called the "n" word and slapped enjoy a passenger during a plate to atlanta. the child's mother says joe rick hunley became irate over her son's crying. the 60-year-old has been arrested on federal assault charges and suspended from his job. it was showtime in seattle for a litter of south african lion cubs. the two sisters and two brothers made their debut at the woodland park zoo. the 3-month-old siblings spent their first outing thrilling the crowd with their curiosity and exploring the enclosure. finally, a new york city museum found a cheesy way to celebrate president's day. ripley's believe it or not recently unveiled a mt. rushmore sculpture made of cheddar cheese. a master carver used four blocks of cheese to sculpt the 160-pound replica. moving to sports, we start with the nba all-star game. in a high-scoring game, the

teams stayed within a few points of each other most of the time. in the fourth quarter, blake griffin of the clippers bounced the ball off the backboard and dunked it. the west wins 143-138. an upset in college ball as number 20 wisconsin rolled over number 13 ohio state. the badgers beat the buckeyes by 22 points. 71-49. nascar driver danica patrick makes history as the first woman to win pole position for next week's daytona 500 or any sprint cup race. four-time champ jeff gordon finished with the second best this time. patrick gets the coveted starting spot. and during his florida golf weekend, president obama played in a foursome with tiger woods. no cameras were allowed, no word on the president's score. he reportedly told woods it was good to see him "play well again." in canada, the basketball coach at brennan university took a half-court shot and -- watch

-- makes it. the surprise resulted in free tuition for a student who was smart enough to choose the right person to take the shot. ahead, bruce willis is back on top. and brangelina's adventure. find out what "snl" had to see about the carnival cruise disaster. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this monday, president's day. this was an image taken yesterday by one of our high-resolution satellites that flies in space. this is new england, the massachusetts coastline here, cape cod, up to down east maine. this was the blizzard that we dealt with over the past weekend. a very, very impressive storm, extremely low pressure. that's why it was so windy and cold up there anywhere in new england. today, just watching lighted rain breaking out in the middle of the country. we're not going to deal with too much in the way of nasty weather today. >> nothing like that picture? >> no. that was a very impressive winter storm. >> complete whiteout. amazing. thanks, bill. well, the 25-year-old "diehard" franchise shows it still has life at the box office. "a good day to die hard" scored $25 million helping take the number-one spot. "identify thief" pulled in $23 million. "safe haven" rounded out the top

three. brad pitt and angelina joel reworking with a winemaker. the brand will go on sale next month. it looks like the new "star wars" movie won't be without han solo. harrison ford signed on most likely thanks to one large sum of money. you think? i think he would have done that for free -- >> not like he needs the money. >> yeah. well, yeah, probably. finally, "snl" tackled the carnival cruise after this week showing two crew members attempting to cheer up those passengers. >> let's see what's in the news. the pope resigned -- oh, lord. [ laughter ] >> okay. here's something fun. north korea successfully launched a new nuclear -- mm, no. >> you remember the olympic sprinter who ran on blades? >> amazing story. >> incredible. absolutely. says here that -- no, no. >> you guys think you might have it bad? but do you have it worse than 4,000 stranded on nightmare

cruise? that is about us. >> us, yeah. that's enough. enough of the headlines. >> you know, it really gives you perspective into how upsetting the news at all times. they couldn't find one thing in the paper. >> the horrible headline for those poor people on the ship. the stories of people coming off the boats. read some of the accounts. >> yeah. you know, there were also accounts where people were saying it wasn't that bad. i mean, i remember listening to an interviewer with a 16-year-old girl who was like, oh, i just ate lobster. we were laying on the sundeck. i thought, okay, depending where you were on the ship probably. >> yeah. seemed like the lower the ship the worst. >> absolutely. absolutely. all right. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. it will be a chilly a holiday today. a lot of people home from work and school. 21 at the airport with a wind chill at 10. 19 in parkton. we will get into the upper 30's, near 40 degrees. >> 4:57. 21 degrees at the airport.

>> converse has this week off but some people are not happy about it. >> playing politics with immigration. that is the charge from some republicans. >> no problem spots for your monday morni

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> believe it or not, congress gets off one week for every federal holiday and a month in august. >> this extended holiday for congress is coming at a bad time. >> his had no communication